Watch Dr. Pimple Popper unclog blackheads inside a patient's ear
- Dr. Pimple Popper shared a video where she unclogged a patient's ear blackheads using a looped metal tool called a comedone extractor.
- Some of the blackheads popped right when Dr. Pimple Popper applied pressure, while others were more stubborn and required she loosen them with a small blade first.
On Thursday, Dr. Pimple Popper shared an Instagram video with an up-close look at blackhead extraction in a patient's ear.
In the zoomed-in clip, Dr. Pimple Popper, whose real name is dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee, used a comedone extractor, a looped metal tool, to push on the areas surrounding each blackhead.
Blackheads are a type of acne that form when pores or hair follicles get clogged with sebum, a natural oil produced by the body. The sebum becomes black in color because when it touches the air, it oxidizes, Papri Sarkar, a dermatologist in Massachusetts, previously told Insider.
The majority of the patient's ear blackheads popped out easily when Lee applied pressure with the comedone extractor.
"You've got nice satisfying ones," Lee told her patient as a yellow and somewhat translucent glob of sebum gushed out of one pore.
For one more difficult-to-remove blackhead, Lee first used a small blade to gently lift the top portion of the blackhead, loosening it from the pore. The she was able to use the comedone extractor to remove the remainder of the sebum.
Lee told Insider that blackhead extractions aren't common in-office procedures compared to ones like cyst and lipoma removals, but she continues to post them on her YouTube and Instagram pages because fans can't seem to get enough.